The Hieron vs. Hawn bout served as the featured contest of Saturday’s Bellator 43 event, which took place at the First Council Casino Hotel in Newkirk, Okla., and aired on MTV2.

The opening round saw Hieron stalking and working his strikes from the outside. Hawn was willing to stand and trade, but he had more difficulty finding range with his efforts. Hawn did land on occasion, but Hieron appeared to possess the more effective strikes en route to claiming the round.

Hawn pushed forward with powerful punches in the second frame. Hieron again kept the fight in his range as often as possible, but Hawn started to find the mark more frequently. An early knockdown looked more like a slip than anything, but Hawn was certainly scoring with clean blows. Hieron netted a late takedown to make the scoring interesting, but Hawn popped right back to his feet.

In the final frame, Hieron’s face showed the wear of the mounting strikes. Hawn continued to push forward while Hieron looked to keep his distance and retreat and counter. Hawn varied the striking attack as he looked to close out his opponent, but Hieron refused to quit. The action was tight once again, but Hawn appeared to have his best frame in the final five minutes.

In the end, it looked as if Hawn’s forward movement may have done enough to take the fight, but only one judge agreed, giving him the fight 29-28. The remaining two gave the fight to Hieron, 29-28, and “The Thoroughbred” walked away with a razor-thin split-decision victory.

With the win, Hieron (22-4 MMA, 3-0 BFC) books a future date with Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren. Meanwhile, Hawn (11-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC) loses for the first time as a professional, though he continues to impress and improve in each outing.

Baker drops “Diesel”

As the fight opened, both fighters felt each other out on the feet. Baker had the most damaging strike in the early going with an illegal shot to the cup, but Riggs quickly recovered. On the restart, it was a pair of Baker flying knees that secured him the round, but he was unable to follow up on the powerful strikes.

In the second, Baker relied on his heavy hands to do the damage, and he found range with the shots. Pushing into the clinch, Baker drove a knee into Riggs body that appeared to land a bit, low, but referee Jason Herzog did not assess any sort of stoppage. Baker kept pushing, and he landed a crisp hook to the chin. Riggs buckled and hit the deck.

With Baker prepared to pounce with additional damage, the fight was waved off at the 3:53 mark of the frame.

A former tournament finalist, Baker (15-2 MMA, 5-1 BFC) is now 9-1 in his past 10 outings. Riggs (34-13 MMA, 0-1 BFC) has now been stopped in two-straight fights and is just 2-3 in his past five fights.
Beebe earns tourney spot with first-round submission

In a bantamweight affair, former WEC champion Chase Beebe made quick work of Jose Vega with an opening-round guillotine choke.

It was Vega who initiated the grappling early on by working into a clinch, but Beebe immediately began to work for a guillotine. Vega briefly took his back in an ensuing scramble, but Beebe quickly worked himself free and reset on the feet.

Vega found some success in the striking department, but Beebe looked over and over again fror a guillotine choke to end the fight. It finally came with a minute left in the round. After locking in the hold, Beebe dropped to his back and squeezed tight, forcing the tap with 54 seconds left in the first round.

After firing off a few heavy punches to open, Sparks pushed into the clinch and landed a few knees to the gut. When a low kick but Lucero on his back, Sparks capitalized on the opportunity.

“The Monster” dove immediately into side control and attacked the arm with a keylock. The finish took some effort, but Sparks finally earned the tap at the 2:18 mark of the first frame.

With the first submission win of his career, Sparks (7-0 MMA, 2-0 BFC) keeps his professional mark unblemished and wins for the second time under the Bellator banner. Meanwhile, Lucero (19-20-1 MMA, 0-1 BFC) is now winless in his past eight outings, netting only a draw along with seven losses.

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